Monday, March 7, 2011

Uncle Tommy

 Uncle Tommy
 showed up
 in a different Cadillac
each Fourth of July.
His voice was
 a rock slide.
He smoked Winstons
and drank beer.
He came down
 from Chicago,
 and said Arkansas
 summers were
 too hot to fuck.
When he taught
us to play poker
I was 9 years old
and I wanted
to be him.
Years later
I went to work
for him
up North
and we drank
at a bar owned
by a Greek
named Sam.